Nyota Uhura
Nyota Penda Uhura was a Human Starfleet officer, best known for serving aboard the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)]] and [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)|USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)]] as communications officer and for her long-time stint as the Chief of Starfleet Intelligence. Early Life Nyota Uhura, daughter of M'Umbha and Alhamisi Uhura, was born in Kitui Province, Kenya, United States of Africa, Earth, on 19 January 2239. (USS Enterprise Officer's Manual). In the summer of 2243, at the age of 10, Uhura learned sign language from her deaf cousin, Epala, while visiting her in Koyo. (''TOS'' novel: The Disinherited). In January 2255, just after her 16th birthday, Uhura traditionally killed an automated lion with a spear in East Africa. (''TAS'' novelization: Log 9). Later that year, Uhura enrolled at the University of Kenya, and studied Communications, Interstellar Relations and African Literature. She received her degree in 2257, and majored in Communications. (USS Enterprise Officer's Manual). Shortly before Uhura entered the Academy, her father, Alhamisi, disappeared while on a deep space mission. (TOS novel: The Starless World) Starfleet Academy Uhura entered Starfleet Academy in 2257, and studied at the Starfleet College of Communications. There, she learned spatial navigation, Duotronics, and cryptography skills under Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Finney. Uhura's dear friend, Trent Ojuremi failed to enter the Academy, and Uhura lost contact with him by her second year. (USS Enterprise Officer's Manual and TOS novel: Across the Universe). In 2259, Uhura won the Jovian Triathlon. (TOS novel: Assignment: Eternity). Starfleet Career Aboard the Ahriman and Potemkin Uhura graduated from the Academy in 2261 and was assigned to the ''Saladin'' class destroyer, [[USS Ahriman (NCC-513)|USS Ahriman (NCC-513)]], as junior communications officer. While on a mission to Wynet V later that year, the Ahriman''s commanding officer was killed. Shortly after, Uhura was promoted to Lieutenant, junior grade. (''TOS novel: The Tears of the Singers). Shortly after, Lieutenant Uhura transferred to the ''Constitution''-class [[USS Potemkin (NCC-1711)|USS Potemkin]] as junior communications officer. (game: Star Trek: Starship Creator). Aboard the Enterprise (NCC-1701) Uhura transferred aboard the Enterprise in 2262 as Chief Communications Officer, whilst it was under the command of Captain Christopher Pike. Like the rest of the Enterprise crew at that time, she developed fierce loyalty for Captain Pike. So, when James T. Kirk assumed command in 2264, she was unsure about the young captain. (TOS novel: Enterprise: The First Adventure). Following the three-month voyage around the Federation Phalanx in 2264, she was temporarily re-assigned, leaving Lt. Commander Daniel Alden to assume her former post. She returned to the Enterprise in 2265 when Alden transferred off the ship. (My Brother's Keeper, Book 3: Enterprise). In her first assignment back aboard the Enterprise, Uhura commandeered a shuttlecraft so that she could rescue Captain Kirk and a landing party from a group of Klingons that had captured them. (TOS comic: Uhura's Story). In 2266, Uhura tranfered from the Command division to the Engineering and Services division of Communications. (USS Enterprise Officer's Manual). Later that year, following the Romulan attack on the Neutral Zone outposts, she was promoted to full Lieutenant, after she deciphered the Romulan micropulse code. (USS Enterprise Officer's Manual and TOS novelization: "Balance of Terror"). In 2267, she was temporarily re-assigned to the [[USS Lexington (NCC-1703)|USS Lexington (NCC-1703)]], under the command of Commodore Robert Wesley, to aid with communications with an alien race from the Gamma Xaridian system. (TOS novel: The Disinherited). Later in 2267, Uhura was reunited with Trent Ojuremi on the planet Merope IV, when the Enterprise transported survivors from the Stephen Hawking to the planet. (TOS novel: Across the Universe). In 2268, Uhura was instrumental in finding a cure for the ADF syndrome that had struck the planet Eeiauo. Remembering songs that she and an Eeiauoan friend sang at the Academy, she directed the Enterprise to the planet Sivao, which was the long-forgotten homeworld of the Eeiauoans. (TOS novel: Uhura's Song). Uhura finally got a shot at command in 2269. After all of the male Enterprise crewmembers were lured down to Taurus II by the enchanting women on the planet, Uhura was forced to assume command. (TAS novelization: "The Lorelei Signal", Log 2). Return to Earth and the Second Five Year Mission When the Enterprise returned to Earth in 2270, following the completion of the five-year mission, Uhura took a post at Starfleet Academy teaching special communications. (TOS novels: The Lost Years and Traitor Winds). In 2273, Uhura was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and re-assigned to the newly-refitted Enterprise as chief communications officer. (TOS novelization: Star Trek: The Motion Picture). Assignment to the Excelsior Following the destruction of the Enterprise in 2285, Captain Kirk and the command staff are reassigned to the [[USS Excelsior (NCC-2000)|USS Excelsior (NX-2000)]], Uhura joins them and is assigned as Chief Communications Officer. (TOS comic: "Masquerade", The Mirror Universe Saga). Shortly after, Uhura accompanies Sulu and Lt. William Bearclaw to investigate the smuggling of dilithium crystals. The party discovered that the smugglers were also slavers, and managed to engineer the smugglers capture. (TOS comic: "The D'Artagnan Three"). Assignment to the Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) Following the Cetacean Probe crisis on 2286, Commander Uhura was assigned to the newly-launched [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)|USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)]]. (TOS novelization: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home). Later that year, Uhura joined with the renegade Vulcan Sybok, when he took over the Enterprise and used the ship to penetrate the Great Barrier, to find the legendary planet Eden. (TOS novelization: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier). Mission to the Quatrain System In 2287, while on shore leave on the Quatrain system, Uhura and Sulu witnessed a multiple murder, fortunately one of the victims survived and was beamed aboard the Enterprise for treatment. The Quatrain security agency began to investigate the murders and insisted that Uhura and Sulu appear before a board of inquiry to give evidence. Meanwhile the Quatrain security director learned that the survivor has identified one of his men as the murderer to Captain Kirk, and ordered his second-in-command to kill Uhura and Sulu before them beam back to the Enterprise. Sulu managed to stop the killer, but was wounded, but Uhura managed to steal a shuttlecraft and headed to the nearby ice planet, Beta, with Sulu. After arriving on Beta, Uhura headed off to find medical help for Sulu, and encountered a group of Betan rebels who lent assistance and treated Sulu, in exchange for Uhura's help with their communications equipment. At the Betan encampment Uhura was captured by the security forces, but managed to get a message to the Enterprise and Commander Chekov and a security team rescued her. (TOS comics: "Veritas", "Sacrifices and Survivors", "Danger...On Ice", and "Cold Comfort"). After the Enterprise Following the Praxis incident in 2293, Uhura once again began teaching at Starfleet Academy. A few months later Uhura joined Captain Spock and Dr. McCoy on a diplomatic mission to Qo'noS to improve relations, and began working with Klingon musicians and singers to exchange musical ideas and theories. (TOS novel: The Last Roundup). In 2295, Captain Spock assumed command of the ''Oberth'' class [[USS Intrepid II|USS Intrepid II]], and Commander Uhura came aboard as first officer, for the ship's shakedown cruise. Following the diversion to the planet Obsidian, Spock resigns his Starfleet commission, and Uhura is promoted to captain and given command of the Intrepid II. (TOS novel: Vulcan's Forge). By the 2300s, Captain Uhura was in command of the [[USS Hermes|USS Hermes]], and in 2310, the Hermes took aboard Doctors Gillian Taylor and Carol Marcus, who planned to test an experimental Genesis Device on the planet Pacifica. However, Marcus and Taylor encountered intelligent life in Pacifica's ocean and the plan was abandoned. (TOS Strange New Worlds II short story: "The Hero of My Own Life"). Starfleet Intelligence Uhura was first approached by operatives of Starfleet Intelligence on Khitomer following the attempted assassination of Federation President Ra-ghoratreii in 2293. They offered her a spot in S.I., and Uhura accepted the position. For the rest of her Starship career, even when she commanded the Hermes, she was passing on things that she heard on to Starfleet Intelligence. She never spied on Starfleet personnel, only passing on information that she heard on the sub-space frequencies. (''TLE'' novel: Catalyst of Sorrows) In the years that followed Uhura gradually made her way up the chain of command at Starfleet Intelligence, eventually making her way to the top of the department. She maintained the rank of "Captain", in part to retain a low profile, but had security clearances higher than some Admirals. In the year 2343, Captain Uhura traveled to Starbase 47 in the midst of the Betreka Nebula Incident to personally assign operative Elias Vaughn to assess the situation on Raknal IV. (''TLE'' novel: The Art of the Impossible) In 2344, Uhura made an unofficial request to Commander Saavik of the USS Armstrong to travel to Romulus and bring back Spock, who had answered a summons sent by a Romulan officer named Charvanek. (''TOS'' novel: Vulcan's Heart) In 2360, Admiral Uhura sent a team that that included Lieutenants Benjamin Sisko, Selar and Tuvok on a covert mission behind the borders of the Romulan Star Empire to gather intelligence on the virulent disease called the gnawing that had been afflicting the Empire. (''TLE'' novel: Catalyst of Sorrows) Admiral Uhura remained in command of Starfleet Intelligence throughout the Dominion War and the Watari affair of 2377. ((''TOS'' novel: Vulcan's Soul book one: Exodus) External Links * Uhura, Nyota Uhura, Nyota Uhura, Nyota Uhura, Nyota Uhura, Nyota Uhura, Nyota Uhura, Nyota Uhura, Nyota Uhura, Nyota Uhura, Nyota